transform your ux practice to transform your business

Transform Your UX Practice to Transform Your Business

AnswerLab’s Ecosystem Model of UX Performance

Amy Buckner ChowdhryCEO & Co-Founder, AnswerLab

• Drives AnswerLab to fulfill its vision of Improving Lives Through Exceptional Digital Experiences

• First CEO from the user experience research industry to be named by Ernst & Young as one of 10 “Entrepreneurial Winning Women”

• Recently named to Fortune’s “Most Promising Women Entrepreneurs”

• Regular contributor to Inc.com column called “User Experience Matters”

Pamela WalsheVP of People & Client Experience, AnswerLab• Leads AnswerLab’s Research and Human Resources functions to ensure our clients’

expectations are exceeded by the top talent in the industry

• Under her leadership, AnswerLab made Fortune’s List of Top 25 Companies to Work For

• Delivered customer insights to drive development of the bank’s mobile and Web channels as Vice President of User Experience Research at Wells Fargo

• Contributing author to the UX Careers Handbook

Unparalleled Insights. Exceptional Experiences.

AnswerLab delivers the insights and advice that shape exceptional digital experiences. Our proprietary solutions and objective user experience experts enable the world’s leading brands to dramatically improve marketing effectiveness and product performance. We help you envision new digital marketing opportunities and products, optimize existing ones, and measure their impact.

Agenda

• UX Impact on Business Success• AnswerLab’s Ecosystem Model of UX Performance

o Assess Your UX Practiceo Align UX Goals with Business Objectiveso Determine the Optimal Organizational Structureo Demonstrate the Value of UX

• Q & A

Good UX Is Good Business

Customer Experience Leaders Outperform the Market7-year Stock Performance of Customer Experience (CxP) Leaders vs. Laggards vs. S&P500 (2007-

2013)

“What’s in your wallet? It’s probably a banking app.”

“The move…underscores the growing importance of user experience at a time when bank customers have an increasing number of options beyond their banks for financial products and services.”

“Facebook, a company in the middle of a design transition to a mobile-first perspective needs every hand it can to help it shape its product for the new digital world.”

“BBVA is on a mission to be the world’s #1 digital bank. They recognize that...exceptional design is not optional. It has to be at the heart of what they do and needs to be part of the organization’s DNA.”

Executives feel that their “companies must address key organizational issues before digital can have a truly transformative impact on their business.”

McKinsey Finds Organizational Challenges Impede Digital Success

In a perfect world…Your UX practice has the right people with the right skill sets in the right roles supporting an organization focused on customer needs

…in reality, it sounds more like this• We can’t find, or keep, the right people for the job.• No one asks, “What do our customers want? Or need? Or

think?”• We have too many silos to be able to deliver an amazing user

experience.• We want to demonstrate the value of good UX to get other

functions and the C-suite on board, but we’re not sure what to do about it.

AnswerLab Explores Overcoming UX Organizational Challenges

Traditional Models of UX Maturity are Limiting

Time 5 years 10 years 15 years

Ecosystem Model

AnswerLab’s Ecosystem Model of UX Performance

Expertise

Value Alignment

Customer-centricity

Expertise

“Our strategy can’t just be to get butts in seats. We need to make sure we get talent in the right seat in order for them to be effective in their job. We need to find people who are a good cultural fit.”

– Senior Vice President of Customer Experience, Fortune 1000 Technology Company

Fill these seats with the right expertise.

● Has UX-specific skills● Demonstrates business acumen and

leadership● Evangelizes UX

Expertise requires assembling a team that:

Customer-centricity“Everybody at the company is expected to engage with customers. . .We include our customer experience focus in investor decks [and] when we talk to the board. We tell the world about it. It’s at the core—a fundamental part of how we operate.”

– User experience executive, Fortune 1000 Technology company

Customer-Centricity

Focus on your customer.

Cultivate Customer-centricity

Integrate customer needs into key decisions and develop customer empathy● Create a customer insights roadmap that parallels the product development cycle● Encourage product teams to observe customer interactions (usability tests, interviews,

phone calls)● Create and share a highlight video of user interviews

Be consultative● Hold office hours. Invite colleagues to ask questions about insights & get feedback on

designs ● Send an internal newsletter to share the latest user insights

Foster a collaborative, cross-functional culture● At key project milestones, create interactive opportunities for stakeholders to contribute

ideas or feedback to encourage buy-in● Host World Usability Day or other UX industry meet-up at your company and invite

colleagues from across the organization

Alignment

“The organization model is always the last thing that any company should talk about. The first thing you talk about is what is it that we are trying to achieve ”

– UX Strategy Consultant

Optimize your org structure for achievement.

UX Team

Business Unit

Business Unit

Business Unit

Business Unit

Centralized

Business Unit

Business Unit

Business Unit

Business Unit

Decentralized

UX UX UX UX

Business Unit

Business Unit

Business Unit

Business Unit

Hybrid

UX UX UX UX

UX Team

Assess Alignment Needs

Structure Type Best to Use When

Centralized • Limited headcount• Organization is new to UX• Need to scale or train UX team quickly

Decentralized • Deep product or business unit knowledge is imperative• There is a lean, nimble development cycle

Hybrid • Executive sponsorship and expansive budget• UX team is essential to both the company’s strategy and individual business units

Value

“Only 7% of executives say their organization understands the value at stake from digital”

– McKinsey survey of 850 C-level executives

UX is valued at companies where UX is measured.

Measure ImpactMeasure Impact● Identify KPIs● Ensure stakeholder buy-in● Benchmark● Regularly measure customer satisfaction

Measure ImpactSocialize Results● Share results in company meetings● Post insights in common areas● Repository of UX insights● Highlight reel of research sessions

[client examples…]

[client examples…]

[client examples…]

How can you improve it?

Expertise

Value Alignment

Customer-centricity

What does your ux ecosystem look like?

Improve Your UX Practi ce Today A toolk i t for nurtur ing your ecosystem including:• the fu l l report • a reference tool for each of

the four e lements

Download the toolkit

Unparalleled Insights. Exceptional Experiences.

Thank You.Want to learn more about AnswerLab user experience research solutions? Contact info@answerlab.com